Article: Car and V/Line train collide in Gippsland

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From the Herald Sun click here!

Car and V/Line train collide in Gippsland

Car and V/Line train collide in Gippsland
Article from: Herald Sun

Mark Buttler and AAP

January 09, 2009 02:58pm

UPDATE 3:58pm A MAN was critically injured and up to 285 passengers were stranded after a car and a train collided in Gippsland today.

The man, 33, was thrown from his four-wheel drive ute after crashing into the V-Line train on the farm near Rosedale in East Gippsland about 1.45pm (AEDT).

He has been airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with head, chest and spinal injuries, in a critical condition.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said there had been concern the crash could have been much worse.

"We just threw everything into it, as we weren't sure how many passengers there were," he said.

A V/Line spokeswoman said the train was the 12.40pm service from Bairnsdale to Melbourne with 285 passengers on board.

The accident happened on an unnamed road on the farm about 6km from Rosedale.

Six buses will collect the passengers and ferry them the rest of the way to Melbourne, the spokeswoman told AAP.

She said it was common for train tracks to pass through private rural property.

"Yes, it is because we have 4000km of track across Victoria, so yes we do travel across private land," she said.

Paramedics at the scene were trying to stabilise the man, who has head and chest injuries, before airlifting him to Melbourne. He is in a critical condition.

V/Line passengers were examined at the scene by paramedics, but no injuries were reported, Mr Mullen said.

The police spokesman said the train remained intact and there were no boom gates at the crossing.

The crash follows a double fatality in Bairnsdale earlier today, and another road death an hour later, with a man dying instantly when his car hit a tree on the Princes Highway near Orbost.

The accident happened 10 kilometers east of Orbost just before 1pm.